Buy Nothing Day trending

Today, Buy Nothing Day was trending on Facebook. This, besides learning about it in the class, was the first time I saw it anywhere. In this article, someone claims that the holiday isn’t about changing your habits for one day, it is about rediscovering what it means to live freely and to be against corporate domination. Although I think in retrospect the holiday is a great idea, and I’m really glad that it is becoming more familiar to people, how effective do you think it is? Do you think it will become more and more popular, or do you think Black Friday shopping will always trump this holiday?

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It’s tough to say whether or not Buy Nothing Day will become a bigger movement. I feel like not a lot of people know about it. I didn’t know about it until this class. But the fact that you saw it trending on Facebook makes me feel like its gained more popularity. I think the key is bringing more awareness to Buy Nothing Day and the important message behind it. It may never fully triumph over Black Friday, but it could very well one day be as widely known, acknowledged, and potentially celebrated as Black Friday.

I also did not know about this holiday until it was mentioned here. I think the concept would be very appealing to youth and/or people aware of how corporations are controlling our lives, but it would probably not reach other groups such as low-income people. For them, a holiday like Black Friday is an opportunity to exercise a privilege often not available to them, allowing them to purchase necessary things like clothes. They can’t afford to to skip out on the “deals” for the sake of of political beliefs (although it doesn’t mean there aren’t any people like this).
(I say this coming from a low-income family and I know that to my parents it would be more important to purchase things (at low prices in order to feel like the middle class) than to stay home and rediscover what “it means to live freely and to be against corporate domination”).

It’s hard to say, I saw a pretty relevant meme saying, “Remember, if you camp out to buy a TV you are a good consumer, if you camp out for social justice, you’re a dirty hippy and will be maced”

I hope National Buy Nothing Day rises in popularity, but right now it is up against the most powerful engrained capitalist ideals, and many consumers do indeed feel trapped to buy only on that day because of cheap prices… I agree with the person above in that we do need to learn what it means to live freely, make our own decisions and to be against corporate domination.